ELEVEN people have this today been arrested in connection with drug-dealing following 16 police raids in Suffolk, Merseyside and Norfolk.

The arrests follow a lengthy investigation led by Suffolk Police, which centred on the supply of Class A drugs in Liverpool and their distribution in Ipswich and Lowestoft.

Officers executed search warrants at four addresses in Liverpool, one address in Norwich, ten addresses in the Lowestoft area and one address in Ipswich shortly after 7am. Detailed searches of these residential properties are still ongoing.

Detectives from Suffolk’s Organised Crime Directorate have been working with counterparts from Merseyside Police and Norfolk Constabulary for several months. Leading the investigation is Detective Superintendent Chris Mayhew.

He said: "Drugs are a major scourge in society and we will do everything to eradicate them as they have wide-reaching consequences;not just for users, but also for their friends and loved ones. This has been a complex investigation which has involved people making substantial amounts of money."

Two people from Liverpool have been arrested. A 50-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of money laundering while a 26-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs.

One 25-year-old man people from Ipswich; two people from Norwich, a 21-year-old woman and a 24-year-old man; six men from the Lowestoft area, aged 29, 35, 44, 43, 29 and 49 have all also been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply Class A drugs. They are being questioned by detectives at police stations in Suffolk and Merseyside.